Escaping the Nest
by LucyLuna
Summary: A conversation with a waitress from Griddy's Donuts turns Vanya's thoughts to her future. Pre-canon. One-Shot.


_Escaping the Nest_

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Vanya didn't often go to Griddy's Donuts on her own. Usually, she and Diego would slip out of the Academy after a jamming session together to grab a snack. Sometimes, she'd tag along with Klaus when he went out to buy from his dealer and after he'd had a blunt, they'd pick up a dozen donuts to share (Klaus eating ten, sometimes eleven, and Vanya one or two.) When Vanya was younger, and before he disappeared, she and Number Five would come down fairly frequently so he could get a cup of coffee. It'd always seemed silly to her then. He'd buy the cup, take a sip, make a face, then dump half a dozen packets of Sweet'N Low in it before he'd drink it again. Now, with a few years perspective, she could see that her brother had been attempting to be more "grown-up" and like something that was almost synonymous with adulthood. Five had always wanted to be older, bigger, greater than he was at any moment. Unfortunately, he was too impatient to wait for anything and was probably somewhere in the future unable to "acorn" (whatever that was supposed to mean) now, just like Dad had told Number Five would happen if he tried to time-travel before he was ready to.

Tonight, though, Vanya had simply felt compelled to leave the Academy and come to the late-night dive. Maybe she'd just had a craving for their strawberry-frosted sprinkle donuts. Or it could be because she was sick of rattling around the mansion while her siblings came and went on missions. Possibly she was hoping Dad would notice and be waiting for her when she got back and would yell at her. Vanya didn't particularly like being scolded, but since he hadn't so much as looked at her in a week, even being shouted at by him would be nice, if only for a moment.

Seated at the counter, Vanya let her feet dangle freely and her legs grow numb as she pulled her donut apart little by little. In spite of her initial craving, she really wasn't putting much of the baked-good in her mouth. She sighed to herself and picked up the cup of decaf coffee she'd ordered to go with the donut. Unlike Number Five, when Vanya started to drink coffee, she didn't try to improve the experience with fake sugar. Instead, she'd accepted it was an acerbic beverage and learned to sip it as to not overwhelm herself with the flavor or down in it several quick gulps for the caffeine intake. Vanya tried to not pay too much attention, but she could feel the woman (Ronnie, her nametag said) working behind the counter had her eyes on her.

Vanya hadn't looked too hard at her when she came in, but she had seen Ronnie wasn't really all that old. Forty, maybe? Ronnie also had long, dark hair and when she'd leaned in while serving Vanya her coffee and donut, Vanya had caught a whiff of cigarettes. Vanya was also sure she'd seen Ronnie a few other times here at Griddy's when she'd come in over the last couple of months with her brothers. Maybe Ronnie thought she recognized Vanya, but couldn't place why?

"Hey, how old are you?"

Vanya jolted, head snapping up at the question. "Huh?" she mumbled. Her tone quickly turned incredulous as she started, " How old—" Vanya stopped herself. It all made sense now. It was a weekday and most kids her age were probably at home studying for a Spanish vocab quiz or something. Not hanging around a late-night donut shop. Sometimes, it really blew. As ordinary as Vanya was compared to her siblings, she was still far from it. "Seventeen," she said, "I'm seventeen."

The waitress nodded and picked up a cup fork from the pile of cutlery next to her to rub with a cloth. "Must be gettin' ready for college, huh?" she replied. "I gotta kid about your age. He's been applying all over the state to some of the cheaper places." Ronnie put down the fork and picked up a spoon as she continued, gaze faraway and voice dull, "I don't got much to give him money-wise, but he's smart. I know he'll find a way and I promised I'd help wherever I could even with his sisters still at home."

Vanya didn't know what to say. What would a regular person say? She offered the waitress a closed-lip half-smile. "That's, uh, you sound like a good mom."

She scoffed. "Ah, I coulda been better. Not had him at sixteen for one, or hooked up with the girls' deadbeat daddy when I was twenty, for two."

"You sound like you care a lot, even if you don't feel you're a good mom," Vanya mumbled after a moment before she picked up her mug of coffee and began to gulp down the now luke-warm dredges.

The waitress reached over and took her her plate, and then the mug when Vanya handed it to her. Ronnie's eyes were soft as she said, "You're a sweet one, ain't ya?" Unable to find words to say in reply, Vanya shrugged her shoulders and gave the waitress another small smile. Returning to her cutlery, the woman began to polish a knife as she said to Vanya, "Enough about me and my problems. What are you thinking you'll study? Somethin' practical I hope?"

Vanya was speechless. She'd never thought about studying anything. Let alone going to a college. That was probably dumb of her she was realizing now. What else was there for her to do? She couldn't be a hero like her siblings. She had no powers. An ordinary life was all that she could ever hope to lead."Erh…" she stammered, "I haven't actually thought about it too much." At the waitress's suddenly pursed lips, Vanya felt compelled to add, "But I know a lot about music. I've been playing the violin since I was like, ten."

"Hmph. You're one of those head in the clouds type, are ya?" Ronnie grumbled as she began to rub a spoon rather roughly. "Well, I guess the world needs all kinds."

Vanya felt insulted. There was nothing wrong with playing an instrument. In fact, it was one of the few things in life that made her feel anything at all. And definitely the only thing besides her siblings that made her even a little bit happy. "I've thought about it," she defended. "I know it's not easy to become famous, but I really love it." At the waitress's raised eyebrow, she muttered, "There's always teaching too."

The unimpressed look dissipated from the woman's face. "What you can't do, teach," she said, tone speculative.

Vanya bobbed her head, grinning now. "Exactly!"

The waitress appeared impressed as she remarked, "I guess you have been using your noodle."

She wasn't entirely certain if Ronnie was being condescending to her now, but decided to let it go either way when she glanced behind the waitress at the clock and saw it was closing time for the donut shop."Yeah," Vanya said in a neutral tone as she hopped down from her stool. Standing in place as her legs began to tingle from the return of blood flow to them, she mumbled, "Hey, thanks for the donut and coffee again."

Ronnie rolled her eyes. "You bought it."

"Uh," she stuttered, "good night then, I guess."

"See you around, kiddo," she replied, smirking.

Vanya felt Ronnie's eyes follow her out of the shop. Once she was back on the street outside and walking under the lamplights on the path back home, her thoughts turned to the conversation she'd had with the waitress. School? Was she really thinking about school? Sure, Dad had educated them (the last thing he wanted was super powered idiots), but it wasn't exactly in a formal way. And how did Vanya know she'd have what it would take to go to a real, live college? How did one even go about getting into one of those?

Sticking her hands into the pockets of her jacket, she sighed and tipped her head skyward. You couldn't see many stars in the city, but you could still see the moon. Vanya had always loved to look at it. The way it changed from day to day always made it interesting to observe. Today, it was a half-moon. Her favorite after the crescent. Vanya's thoughts slowly meandered back to college. If she asked Pogo, would he be able to help her to find some to apply to? Help her figure out what requirements she'd need to fulfill to attend? Probably. And if he didn't, maybe Mom would. Or Dad. Though, it'd probably be difficult to get him to pay attention to her long enough to get him to put things in order so she could attend. If all else failed, there was the library up the street. There had to be books about education and getting into colleges. They had books for everything as far as Vanya could tell.

Briefly, Vanya wondered what her siblings would think of her going. Leaving the Academy altogether, maybe. Number Five had been gone for years, so she wouldn't be their first loss, at least. She honestly didn't think Luther or Allision would notice too much. They really only had eyes for each other these days. Half the time, Klaus was so out of it on something or other he'd probably forget she'd left at all by the time she was gone. Ben would miss her, she thought. Not a lot, since he'd still have a lot of Academy stuff to do and keeping Klaus from getting himself killed trying out new drugs was a huge time-consumer too. Vanya bit her lip. The one she was _really_ concerned to say anything to was Diego. He'd probably be upset they couldn't have a band anymore and that there would be no more adventures in sneaking out together too. Worst of all, he'd be the odd one out. Luther had Allison and Allison had Luther. Klaus had Ben and Ben had Klaus. If Vanya wasn't there, who would Diego have to hang out with?

Vanya nearly reconsidered college from the thought alone. She knew what it was like to be the extra wheel. She'd hate for any of her siblings to experience what she had. Not to mention Diego knew how to hold a grudge. If she didn't break the news to Diego right, he would loathe her nearly as much as he loathed Luther. She cringed at the thought. A chat with Pogo about more than college was in order.

No matter how Diego took the news, Vanya realized she couldn't let that stop her from going to college. She had to go. If not this year, next year. The waitress may have planted the seed, but Vanya's mind was working double-time to grow it into a beautiful image. For the first time ever, she would be surrounded by normal people like her, making friends who played the violin and had bands when they were young as she did… The more she turned it over in her head, the more it sounded like a dream. For once, she wouldn't be the weird one. Vanya would get to know what it was to be normal, to be like everyone around her.

Reaching the Academy, Vanya let herself into the house. Closing the front door, she leaned her back against the solid oak wood and initiated the lock. Staring into the darkness of the foyer, she didn't notice at all that not a soul had realized she had gone and come back. Instead, all Vanya could see was her future-self sorting through mail, looking for her acceptance letter. She could see herself opening the little envelope that had her name on it and reading the letter inside. Vanya envisioned herself seeing the words "accepted" and being overwhelmed with pride and happiness. She saw herself letting the other mail spill to the floor as she hugged the letter close to her heart like a cherished toy. A slow frown started at the corners of Vanya's lips. Even if the moment of jubilance she pictured for herself, she was alone. There was no one there to clap for her, or praise her success, or offer a congratulatory hug. _No one cared_. Like always. Vanya put the heels of her hands to her cheeks and scrubbed away the tears she felt were suddenly spilling down them. What was there to be sad about? So what if she couldn't see anyone being there when she opened her acceptance letter? For once, she was going to have something none of her siblings did:

A ticket out of this miserable place.

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**To build up Vanya's past, some things were borrowed from the comics. Such as her having a band with Diego.**

**Thank you very much for reading!**


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